My 216 has a wine in 1st and 2nd gear maybe because of it's recent trip to Romania, is there an alternative oil i can use from the standard 10w/40 that is recommended, to make it a bit quieter , or is it time to change the box?

Also the car wanders to the left when i let go of the wheel,will having the tracking checked and adjusted make it drive in a straight line again.

Thanks.

Have you filled the gearbox with 10W40 as that may be too thin for it. The correct viscosity for most manual gearboxes in the 200/400 range is 75W80! Unless you've got the PG1 box fitted when 10W40 is recommended. If so then draining off half of it and topping up with 20W50 may alleviate the noise for a while.

As for the wandering to the left this could be a tracking problem, but it could also be uneven wear in the front tyres, a worn inner or out track rod end, suspension wear or just the car following the camber of the road.

It's the pg1 box, fitted to the twin cam Honda engine, so i might as you say drain half and refill, as for the steering i think i get the tracking done first to see how that goes.

There is a thicker oil available which was supposed to be used on Rover-built PG1 'boxes.

How bad is the 'box on the rally car? How are you finding the car in general?

Well the whine only seems to be in 1st and 2nd so it's not really causing problem's yet,it changes gear fine as always.
The steering will need the tracking sorted in the next few weeks, and today the rear wiper stopped but that turned out to be the nut holding the arm on had worked loose,and the idle seems to be a bit all over the place and it has stalled once due to the idle dropping.
The car itself is almost like the time when i had it apart from a a few more rust spots and scrapes, it's a blast to drive, i just need to try and track down the original handbook and the folder full of receipts and all the old mot's. Also when Rob had it there were some parts that he had left in the car like Rover roof bars and a few other bits and pieces.
But Alex has done a great job of bringing it back to a healthy looking motor with new brakes all round and a full service.

Neil.

All the bits I had including the blue folder went with it when i loaned* it to Mr Average so I assume they're all still with him somewhere?

Mr Average who and where are you